"Microsoft has been furiously ripping out legacy code in Windows 8 that would have enabled third parties to bring back the Start button, Start Menu, and other software bits that could have made this new OS look and work like its predecessor. In fact, I've seen that several well-known UI hacks that worked fine with the Windows 8 Consumer Preview are no longer functional in the coming Release Preview. And those with hopes that Microsoft would allow businesses, at least, to boot directly to the desktop should prepare for disappointment. That feature not only isn't happening, it's being removed from Windows Server 12 (Windows 8's stable mate) as well." When you buy a new machine later this year, you will use Metro, an environment wholly inferior, incomplete, and not at all ready to replace the traditional desktop in any way, shape, or form. Whether you like it or not.

I don't work with applications. I work with documents. I don't want to switch to Word - I want to switch to document_to_translate.docx. Or document_to_translate.NL.docx. Or termlist.xlsx. Or termlist_UPDATED.xlsx.

You're pretending that Metro is a replacement for the Start menu. It isn't. It's a replacement for the Explorer shell - with the old Explorer shell turned into an isolated application, with ZERO integration with Metro - i.e., you can't properly manage your desktop applications from within Metro. Metro does nothing but add additional clicks and hoop-jumping to make things more complicated.

Like I said - I like Metro, just not when I need to do something more complex than check Twitter or the weather.

I don't work with applications. I work with documents. I don't want to switch to Word - I want to switch to document_to_translate.docx. Or document_to_translate.NL.docx. Or termlist.xlsx. Or termlist_UPDATED.xlsx.

I prefer the document-centric model myself, but we lost that battle. Apple dictates the direction of the market now, and iOS is app-centric, not document-centric, and the public has embraced that model, and that's where the industry will follow.

And frankly, the common non-techy users never really got the document-centric model.

Thankfully, those of us who have document-centric and/or workflow-centric mindsets still have plenty of choice among the various interfaces for GNU/Linux and the BSDs. Even though most *nix desktops and WMs aren't necessarily document/workflow-centric, many can be made so with a little tweaking. Hell, even Windows 7 is amenable, and Mac OS X has so far retained a ton of really great workflow-centric features.

Unfortunately, Microsoft is waging a war on those OSes (including their own Windows 7 and earlier) via the secure boot nonsense, and it will only be a matter of time before general purpose x86/64 hardware is all locked down to Windows 8+ from the factory. Add to that Apple's continuous path towards iOS on the desktop and the entire x86/64 sphere will soon become closed off and sterilized.

The future for those of us who wish to retain control over our computers might just be with devices like the Raspberry Pi and similar ARM boards that are open to experimentation.